


A Tick Tock Christmas

by ClockWorkQueso



Series: The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls (or, As Time Goes On) [3]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Multi, Soulmate AU, Tick Tock AU, my apology for the wait, not canon in actual canon or Tick Tock canon, post-Tick Tock if anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 08:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8790331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockWorkQueso/pseuds/ClockWorkQueso
Summary: Things are really serious in Tick Tock, and that's just not in the spirit of Christmas, is it? 
This is the story of our beloved Kaneki Ken, and how he discovers the joy of the holidays, and what Christmas means to him. 
Can be read alone, with minimal confusion, but I recommend reading Tick Tock.





	

Once upon a time, there was a man named Kaneki, a rather glum sort of man, not always by choice. You see, he had very good reasons for his low spirits, but this tale is not about sadness. It is about Christmas spirit, and the joy of the holidays.

  
Kaneki had a _very_ special friend, named Hideyoshi, though he preferred to be called Hide. Fate had a particular way of behaving in this world, bringing people together in love simply with numbers on their wrists. Friends, lovers, brothers, sisters. The relationship was fickle, hard to label. Maybe all at once, for love knows no bounds, especially the love of a soulmate. Hide was Kaneki’s soulmate, and they loved each other dearly. Difficulty plagued their love from the start, but they never gave up on each other, not even in the direst of times.

  
Hide _loved_ Christmas. Kaneki did not. Hide, thinking nothing of it (for his soulmate was usually at the very least a bit grumpy, though he attempted to hide it from Hide), tweaked his soulmate’s nose and affectionately called him a grinch. But you see, Kaneki was not unlike the Grinch at all, in that his heart, at least, in capacity for loving the holidays, seemed to be about three sizes too small.

  
He had never truly celebrated Christmas, not like Hide, who had grown up with two loving parents and enough money to splurge on the costly decorating and gifting. Yes, he strung up lights at the coffee shop, and ice skated, and pretended to drink hot chocolate, but there was no enjoyment in the activities beyond spending time with Hide and their friends. He had no spirit to motivate him, unlike Hide, who struggled to bring a too-large Christmas tree into their apartment, unlike Hinami, whose eyes lit up as brightly as the twinkling lights she longed to see, unlike Amon, who made it a point to drag Akira under the mistletoe just so that she could make a show of complaining before kissing him in front of the others, hiding her pleased smile.

  
Up until he met Hide, Kaneki had really no reason to celebrate Christmas beyond cautiously giving gifts to his found family. In Japan, it was far less about religion and more a time to spread happiness and go on dates with a soulmate. So that was why, even if he harbored no love for the day, Kaneki invited Hide out to peruse the streets, to see the warm, glowing lights decorating the 20th Ward on Christmas Eve. After that they would finally finish decorating their tree, which they had put off until last minute, and then retire to bed. Kaneki, holiday quota filled, would simply accompany Hide to Antieku’s Christmas party the next night and enjoy watching his soulmate having a good time.

  
Of course, things were never simple for Kaneki Ken.

  
It was terribly cold out, and even though he had bundled his fragile human Hide up in toasty layers, the redness in his cheeks and the shaking of his hands prompted Kaneki to cut that particular segment of the date short. They did stop to get hot chocolate, by which he meant, they got Hide two hot chocolates, which pleased his soulmate and his frozen fingers.

  
The tree decorating was, plainly phrased, a disaster. Hide managed to wrap himself entirely in tinsel, proclaim himself the Christmas tree, and give up, all within the span of an hour. Note: he may have partaken in a small helping (read: quite a   
lot) of the eggnog Akira and Amon had given to them. Kaneki learned that day his soulmate was a particular drunk- his playful personality magnified tenfold and was touched with a bit of craziness. It was amusing at first, but then Hide refused to actually deck the halls and whatnot, maintaining that he was more than willing to take the valiant, but far less attractive, pine tree’s place.

  
At midnight, Hide wished Kaneki a merry Christmas, thanked him for the date, and passed out, still wrapped in scratchy tinsel and hung with a few ornaments Hide had snagged. He had wanted to wear the star as well, but after thirty minutes of fruitless attempts to adhere it to his spiky blonde hair, he pouted and drank some more.

  
When Kaneki woke up the next morning, on the much beloved Christmas Day, it was to Hide violently throwing up the toilet. No stranger to helping his loved ones though such an ordeal, whether it be from excess of alcohol or other, more _ghoulish_ things that turned his own stomach, he rolled out of bed and went to his soulmate.

  
They went to work, dark glasses perched on the bridge of Hide’s nose, for they didn't get the day off on Christmas, no matter how much they whined. Kaneki agreed, finding the holidays little reason to abandon his Quinx for a day (besides, he had gotten them all gifts, and Hide teased him about being a doting parent before downing four painkillers at his desk).

  
The party was uneventful, if not a little fun. Kaneki loved his friends, at least, even if he didn't love the holidays. Hide, sick and pained, threw himself into the fray with gusto, and Kaneki marveled at how much someone could love Christmas. Hide caught him under the mistletoe a few times, and though Hide tasted like sour eggnog and rotten, cloying peppermint, it was probably Kaneki’s favorite part of the evening. He and Hde, ever the Good Samaritans, stayed to help the manager and his daughter clean up afterwards.

  
Kaneki had no Christmas spirit, he was sure. Why would he? The holidays were not significant to him. Even as a human, his life had been rather cheerless, and ghouls, even in today's day and age, really took no part in celebrations for reasons beyond the need to fit in. Christmas was about happiness, and love, and giving. Things that he had never experienced, until a handful of years ago.

  
_No Christmas spirit_ , he thought as he let Hide lean heavily on him, walking home, their puffs of breath mingling in front of them.

  
_No Christmas spirit_ , he thought, as he read text after text of thanks, of well-wishes, from his squad.

  
_No Christmas spirit,_ he thought, as Touka called to remind him that she had invited Kaneki and Hide to Yoriko’s post-Christmas family dinner, because she wanted someone to actually eat the food, and they were, or course, Touka’s family.

  
_No Christmas spirit_ , he thought, as Hide kissed him goodnight, a murmured “I love you” on his lips, and his heart bloomed in his chest, full of affection and contentment.

  
Now, you see, Kaneki was a rather stubborn person. It took a lot to dissuade him from his chosen course of action, to convince him of a different opinion. For the majority of his life, he had lacked the Christmas spirit. His reasoning rang true like silver bells, as he had never been shown what the holidays could truly be. But, as he held Hide in his arms on that cold, Christmas night, his understanding morphed, casting Christmas in an entirely new light. He had a family. He was extremely happy. He had given in the spirit of the holidays, had received in equal measure.

  
Some might say his heart grew three sizes that day, enough to encompass Christmas and all it entails. But those who truly know him laugh, shake their heads, for his heart had been big enough all along. He just needed people to come and fill it.

**Author's Note:**

> IM SORRY FOR THE WAIT MERRY CHRYSLER


End file.
